Improvement in manual power



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IMPROVEMENT IN MANUAL POWER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,417, dated April 25,1865.

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IsAAc E. OVERPEGK, of Overpecks station, in Butler county and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Manual-Power Sawin g-Machine 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the combination of two levers, (one of the first and one of the second kind, both provided with connecting-rods, connecting them to the same crank, said rods being jointed to their respective levers at a point lateral to and some distance from a vertical line drawn through the center of the crank-shaft to which they are connected,) so arranged above and below the said crank-shaft of'the principal driving-wheel as to be easily operated by both the hands and feet of one or two attendants, all of which is herein fully described.

` The object is to produce a manual-power machine for the proposed and similar purposes which can be successfully used in the place of any of the single-horsepower machines now known.

Figure I of the drawings represents a plan or top view of the machine. Fig. II is a side elevation with a portion of the frame broken away.

In the drawings, a a a denote the main frame of the machine, the top portion of whichV consists ofthe three string-beams a a a", the latter two of which support in suitable boxes the journals of the main balance and driving wheel b, and the central string-beam, a, is strongly braced to prevent it from vibrating, which would cause the main wheel b to swing laterally in its revolutions c c are the connectingrods, which communicate motion from the treadle-lever d and hand-lever e to the crank j' of the main-wheel shaft. A saw-shaft is placed in suitable boxes across the main frame and provided with a pulley, to be driven by a band from the main wheel. This shaft is also provided with a saw, x, at one end, and with a balance-wheel at the other, as represented in the accompanying drawings.

In this machine a suitable carriage, o, is provided, which supports the wood while being fed thereon to the saw. It will be observed that the lever of the rst order, to which a treadle is attached, has for its fulcrum a rock-shaft journaled in suitable pendants firmly secured to the bottom side frame-pieces,

as seen in the drawings, and that the handy lever, which is of the second order, has its circuit coinciding with a vertical line drawn through the center of the crank-shaft, it will be observed that the two connecting-rods c c are standing at an angle of ten degrees (more or less) with said vertical line. This relative arrangement of the connecting-rods with their respective levers and their common crank may be varied to any neces sary degree to attain the intended purpose-namely, to avoid a dead-point in operating the driving mechanism. The same result could readily be accomplished by the use of two crank-arms upon the 1n ain shaft; but such an arrangement would fall short of attaining the ultimate, and especial objectot myinvention, as I will now more clearly explain.

I have found by practice with a machine of this kind that in order to avail of the muscular or manual power of the operator to the best advantage, and so as to afford the greatest economy of labor and ease to the operator, the levers d and e must move toward each other simultaneously, and vice versa, and therefore the connecting -rods should be jointed to a common crank. This will appear obvious wh en it is considered that the effort of the attendant to throw or push the hand-lever upward will causeacorrespon ding power and action to be given to the treadlelever, upon which the weight of the operators body will then be resting, and when the movement of the levers is revers ed the weight of the operator is mostly thrown upon the handlever, while one of his feet is resting upon the ground.

It will now be fully understood that the manner described of arranging the connecting-rods at an angle to the vertical line drawn through the center of the crank-shaft does not merely obviate a deadpoint in the revolution of the main drivin g-wheel, but permits of the arrangement and organization of the other parts of the machine through which the power is transmitted, whereby compensating alternate rest or ease is allowed to the different muscles of the operator, and this, too, is greatly augmented by the fact that one-half of the power applied in propelling the machine is given by the gravity of the operators body, while his muscular power is essentially at rest.V

The experiments which I have made in developing and maturing my said invention have fully demonstrated its superior advan tages in practical use, and, as I believe, is capable of increasing the results of manual labor fourfold, for the purposes for which it is intended and designed.

Having thus fully described my improvement in manual-power sawing-machines, what I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, A

ISAAC E. OVERPEGK.

Witnesses:

SAML. STEWART, H. P. K. PEeK. 

